Anti-discrimination Policy

What can I do if I witness discrimination?

The University of Bremen strongly encourages people to take action against discrimination and to address it. After all, discrimination affects us all! Therefore, we encourage you to actively and responsibly contribute to a respectful climate at our places of learning, teaching, and work.
Here is what you can do:

• Call out discriminatory remarks in meetings, chat groups and working groups, in seminars or any other university context.
• If a person is directly affected, reach out to them. Offer your support.
• Write a memory log in order to help you remember the situation(s) and circumstances in detail later. This may also enable you to assist the person(s) concerned in taking further steps.
• If you are unsure about how to proceed in a particular situation, take advantage of the University's support services.

What can I do if I have discriminated against someone else?

For many people, discrimination is an unsettling or even threatening word. When called out for discrimination against someone, the first response is often to see the criticism or feedback as an accusation or reproach and to respond with defensiveness, downplaying, or emotional (counter) accusations.

Importantly:

• Take the feedback and/or criticism seriously. Even if it’s not easy at first. Pause. Question what you have said or done without being too hard on yourself or others or causing further injury through a hasty defensive impulse.
• Reflect on your behavior and language, especially with regard to the (possible) effect it had on the other person.
• It might be helpful to let the other person explain the situation and its effect on them.
• Apologize to the person who feels discriminated against by you, even if it was not your intention to discriminate against them.
• Talk to people who have also set out to become more aware of discrimination. Consciously engaging with the topic offers you the opportunity to confront your own stereotypes, attitudes, and privileges. In its policy, the university commits to provide corresponding services.
• The various contact persons and advice centers are also open to you. They help you to understand the impact of your actions and words, to understand criticism and to use it constructively.
• Make use an early conflict intervention if your counterpart suggests this as a way of reaching an understanding.
• Accept a complaints procedure as an opportunity for clarification and as the right of those affected by discrimination. Just like the accusatory party, you have the right to present your point of view and to consult a person you trust.
   

The responsibility of teaching staff and supervisors

“Members of the university who carry out educational, qualification, and management tasks in teaching, research, and administration (...) bear a particular responsibility and obligation towards the (...) persons to be protected,” according to the policy.

They are called upon to actively support a cooperation that is sensitive to discrimination and a respectful attitude towards diversity in their respective areas of responsibility. This means that all professors, academics, deans, people with personnel and management responsibilities, as well as teaching staff are responsible for putting the University of Bremen’s anti-discrimination policy into action:

• Create a cooperative environment that is sensitive to discrimination in your work area and a climate in which criticism and/or conflicts are dealt with constructively.
• Recommend this brochure and pass on the information from the policy. In accordance with the policy, you are responsible for informing people about their rights and obligations in regards to protection against discrimination.
• Follow up on all reports and incidents of discrimination. You are required to take all incidents seriously and to implement measures to protect the person affected and to prevent further discrimination.
• If you are either involved or unable to be impartial, inform your next-highestsuperior about the situation. If you are a professor, this could be the dean‘s office, for example.
• A person affected confides in you and reports a discriminatory incident? Is the person unsure how to deal with the incident? Recommend a confidential consultation. Explain that you have an obligation to follow up on all indications of discrimination.
• Educate yourself further! The university management has expanded its services in the area of anti-discrimination and skills development in accordance to the policy. This gives you security in your position and also has a preventative effect.
• Educate yourself about the different forms of discrimination and reflect on your own prejudices, stereotypes, and privileges.
• If necessary, seek out the contact persons and advice centers mentioned in order to reflect on your possibilities for action in the specific situation.